Gevurah
by SkyeFinal
Summary: Gold light engulfed the pair. This time lacks the seventh fonons needed. We must go somewhere else. Luke trusts Lorelei, he had no choice. He would go anywhere to save his other. Even going through time.
1. Chapter 1

Gevurah  
---_KumoDango_

Tales of the Abyss belongs to Namco, Final Fantasy VIII belongs to Squeenix.

**Spoilers** for the end of ToA and FFVIII.

* * *

Gold.

Everything was bathed in gold light. But Luke didn't mind, it wasn't the same gold that shone on his fingertips when he used a hyperresonance and he certainly didn't feel the normal fear whenever he used one. No, this was different. It felt…warm and he felt loved. Cherished even.

It also gave Asch a healthy skin glow, not the ash gray face he had seen earlier when he caught Asch when he fell on top of the fonic glyph bubble. Gold swirled around the bottom of the glyph and manifested into a shape in front of Luke, half twisting to maintain a body image yet half fading into a mass of gold.

_So the world did not vanish. To think, that the world I saw would be rewritten. You have done admirably._

Luke smiled and shook his head. It wasn't just him that changed Auldrant. Ion, Peony, Uncle, and his friends all helped together to abolish the Score. He couldn't have done it without them and…he wouldn't have made it to Van without the help of Asch.

_Asch._

It didn't feel right. Why was he granted the right to be alive while his original was not? _Didn't we promise? That you'd come back otherwise Natalia and I would never stop grieving?_ Luke tightened his hold on the lifeless body in his arms. Another promise broken. Who would marry and lead Kimlasca with Natalia?

_Fragment of my light, do not grieve_

Luke looked up, confused. Lorelei was suppose to go back to the fon belt right after he released him. Why was he still here? Luke felt a little self-cautious, he didn't like to show weakness in front of anyone, be it humans or entities.

_My scion is not yet dead_

Luke jerked his head in surprise. But Asch was dead! He saw it himself through their connection. The way Asch suddenly grasped his chest in pain, and those damn Oracle Knights taking advantage of his weakness and stabbing him with swords not once, but _three_ times. But Asch in a fit of rage killed all of them before collapsing against the white pillar. He whispered to Luke the rest was up to him and he just…died. Luke saw trails of gold leaving Asch's body going into him. _Asch's hyperresonance._ He felt Asch inside him, granting him the power to use the second-order hyperresonance.

_No, it is not both of your time to end. There is still a way. Trust me._

Lorelei went closer circling around Luke and Asch. Closer and closer until Luke couldn't see Asch but could still feel him in his arms. _Trust me_. Luke did. He didn't want his life to end like this. Both he and Asch had promises to keep.

_This time lacks the seventh fonons needed. We must go somewhere else._

Luke closed his eyes, falling in the sea of gold. He allowed his body to finally rest. Gold light exploded in Eldrant and he felt Lorelei guide him and Asch soaring up into the sky and into the fon belt. He didn't feel scared; if it was Lorelei there was defiantly a way to save Asch. So for now, Luke rested.

_I trust you._

_

* * *

_

"Booyaka!"

Squall rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed. Next to him, he could hear Rinoa giggle. It was stifling in Balamb Garden, so Selphie proposed to hunt around Island Closest to Hell since the Gnats and T-Rexaurs in the training facility had become too easy to kill.

"_Blizzaga!_"

And down goes another Blue Dragon. Zell was fighting a Grendel with Quistis as his magic support. Zell was just flying over the place punching and kicking the Grendel where ever, to Squall it seemed like Quistis was having a hard time trying _not _to shoot Zell accidently with a magic spell. Irvine and Selphie were having fun taunting a Ruby Dragon with Squall and Rinoa as their back-up. Not that they needed it, from the looks of it Selphie was enjoying making the dragon angry.

Every time the Ruby Dragon would cast Firaga Selphie would counter it with Reflect. The Ruby Dragon then cast Reflect on itself, hoping to foil the enemy's plan. However it didn't expect Selphie's and Irvine's plan. Selphie managed to angle the Reflect spell just _so_, that the Firaga spell flew to Irvine's direction.

So now Squall and Rinoa watched as the duo played ping-pong while the dragon watched confusedly and angrily that its own spell was being toyed with. SeeD were suppose to be professional mercenaries, yet here were one of them acting like a small kid.

It didn't even make sense to Squall either. Reflect was only suppose to reflect one magic spell only _once_ back at the enemy. _What are Trabia Garden teaching SeeD candidates nowadays,_ thought Squall a tiny bit amused.

It was nice to see everyone having fun and all, but considering that this _is_ a Ruby Dragon Squall felt the need to be concerned. He still remembered how much their claws hurt when the gang found the Deep Sea Research Center and fought _two_ Ruby Dragons after answering those damn life philosophy questions. Then fought the King of the Dragons himself, Bahamut.

But considering how confused the dragon looked while Selphie and Irvine fooled around, Squall couldn't summon any concern for the crazy duo. He smirked to himself; he doubted anything could beat them. After all, they did survive Time Compression and defeated Ultimecia. Ruby Dragon is like a Bite Bug compared to the sorceress.

Zell walked over to the couple, cleaning his hands from the blood of the Grendal. "They sure look like they're having fun."

"Fun is good and all, but they really should kill the Ruby Dragon before it harms them." Quistis said shaking her head. "At the rate they're going, they'll never stop."

Rinoa giggled. "Any volunteers?"

Squall raised a hand and focused. It would take more than a simple spell to take down the Ruby Dragon, seeing how Selphie and Irvine didn't even do any damage to the monster. Gesturing towards the ruby-monster he called forth his most trusted ally, _Come Shiva_-

"Look out!"

Startled by Rinoa's warning, he quickly jumped back away from the dragon with everyone else following his move. A golden pillar of light came from the sky blinding everyone. Squall threw up an arm to shield his eyes and tried to see through the light. The Ruby Dragon gave a huge roar before disintegrating into orbs of gold drifting up into the sky.

Zell brought everyone's attention back to the ground. "Wh-what the hell is that!?"

The spot where the dragon disintegrated was occupied by a huge dome of golden light, the same one that killed the Ruby Dragon. Squall looked a bit more closely at the dome, it seemed to be pulsing with life. It receded getting smaller and smaller until two forms could be seen.

Selphie gasped. "It's people! People are in there!"

True to her words, the gold faded and two young men could be seen. Both had long deep red hair but one wore white clothing, although stained with blood and gold lining. The other wore black with red and silver lining.

They both had their eyes closed and would've looked like they were sleeping if it wasn't for the puddle of blood slowly spreading beneath the two figures and the death grip the white-clothed man had on the other. Squall did a double-take, their faces…it was far too alike. Perhaps they were twins.

"Wait," Squall stopped Selphie before she could rush forward to the people. "We don't know if they're dangerous or not."

"Come on Squall," protested Irvine. "What harm could they possibly do to us?"

"Do you want to end up like the Ruby Dragon?"

"…Good point."

"But we can't let them bleed to death!" Rinoa said, noticing the alarming rate of blood.

"Let me scan them," Quistis got in position to cast Scan. "If they aren't monsters, we save them. Agreed?" Everyone nodded. Quistis motioned towards the bleeding pair, sending the scanning magic hoping to gain information on them. She weaved the blue strands around the pair, probing, searching but only to be blocked painfully by a barrier.

_You shall not hurt them!_

A pulse of energy knocked everyone off their foot. Quistis fell clutching her head. "Ah!"

"Quistie!" Selphie rushed towards the blond. She helped the blond up casting curative magic to help ease away the headache. She waved off her friend's hands and stood up.

"I'm fine, thank you, Selphie," Quistis smiled in reassurance to the brunette. She gazed curiously at the redheads. Pulses of energy were still blasting from the pair but not strong enough to knock everyone off their feet again. It just had enough energy to prevent anyone from getting close, even magic.

"They're not monsters, just humans. That's all I know, something was blocking my way. It seemed protective, not hostile." She said quickly, not to cast any suspicion. "It's like…they're afraid something will happen to them."

_Summon me_.

"Shiva?" Squall said confused. It was rare for a Guardian Force to talk to their summoner. They were usually a quiet presence in the back of their minds; they rarely mingle in mortal affairs. The entities only spoke when they agreed to be summoned to lend aid in battle.

_There is no time to explain. Summon me!_

Squall raised his hand and focused summoning the ice goddess. Ignoring the stares of his comrade, he put his palm facing the strangers and beckoned the ice maiden. "I summon thee. Come, Shiva!" Squall felt the familiar energy well up inside him welling up and leaving from his outstretched arm.

Shards of ice burst from the ground. A lone figure could be seen inside. The woman opened her eyes, flicked her wrist and she broke free from her prison. The woman was completely blue – hair, skin, everything- and had an air of a royalty. Squall and the others were a bit surprised to see the normally inadequate clothed summon actually dressed. She had an ice-blue skirt cape and a translucent shawl around her arms that seemed to defy gravity.

The SeeDs noticed the energy pulses stopped. The white-clad boy opened his eyes at the new presence around him. The others could see him loosen his grip as he peered curiously at Shiva.

"Pretty." Selphie commented softly, entranced by the newly revealed gold eyes. It seemed to radiate a soft glow from where she stood.

"Lorelei." Rinoa fidgeted with the two rings on her necklace when Shiva spoke. The name felt familiar but she couldn't put a finger on it. She didn't have time to dwell on it as a golden light flashed breaking Rinoa from her thoughts.

"Undine_._" An unworldly voice came from the young man. But that wasn't all, the golden light came back but instead of blinding the gang or sending shockwaves of energy, it merely glowed gently around the talking redhead. "No…you are not Undine. You are half of her."

"It's like he's possessed by that light." Zell whispered. He continued when he felt everyone looking at him. "I mean look, there's something _off_ about the guy."

"I agree." Rinoa felt a hand drawing her close to a comforting body. She looked up, Squall's eyes asked for more information. "There's something else there, something far more ancient then all of the Guardian Forces."

"You think it's a new Guardian Force?" Asked Quistis.

"Let's listen." Squall suggested. He was curious, he didn't think it was a new GF. He had never heard of a GF acquiring such a realistic human form. He and his comrades moved in closer to listen better to the conversation.

Shiva answered Lorelei. "Yes, Leviathan holds the other half of Undine's powers. But I go not as Undine anymore, I go by as Shiva." She looked sadly at her kin. "My brethren, why are you here? You are not of this time."

"It was the only way." Lorelei sighed mournfully. "The world that I had foreseen has been changed, but with that change the world weakened significantly." The seventh fonon entity stroked lovingly at his mirror image. "I owe much to these two. I could not leave my scions to perish. It was easier to revive my fragments here, for the seventh fonons are much more abundant. "

"They are the ones that abolished the Score." Shiva stated impressed. "But how will you save them? You and they are not of this time. They're eternally damned to stay here."

Lorelei shook his head. "If you are here, Undine's half, then Origin should be here as well. "

"Excuse me," Rinoa interrupted gently. The two gods stared back at the sorceress. "Could you save this talk for later? You're still bleeding." True to Rinoa's words, the puddle of blood that formed underneath Lorelei had gotten a little bit bigger as the two gods were conversing.

"Ah, a descendent of Hyne." Lorelei smiled at Rinoa, and then turned his gaze to Squall. "And her knight. It is a pleasure. "

"I had forgotten, in my haste to revive my fragment I had forgotten to heal him as well." He bowed his head to Shiva. "My time is almost over, maintaining a conscience here is harder than I thought. I leave my fragments in your care. They will know how to find me."

The gold light that was surrounding the redhead disappeared. Weary emerald eyes opened and looked upon Squall and the others. The young man then widens his eyes in panic, his head moving frantically as if searching for something. He moved to stand up, but he noticed that something was lying on his lap, he looked down.

"Asch." The young man whispered. The others watched as he raised a shaking hand to check for a heartbeat. He smiled. "Good. He's still alive." The man slumped over.

"Curaga!" The warm healing light surrounded the redheads, closing any wounds for now. The temporary first aid would do until they would bring the duo to Balamb Garden. Assured that the redheads would live, Squall faced his summon.

"Shiva, what did you mean by the Score? Who is Lorelei?" He demanded.

"Even I do not know the full details." Shiva's figure started fade. "His fragments will clarify when they awaken." Squall felt Shiva settle back in his mind. It seemed that after Lorelei left, she resumed her usual attitude about mortal affairs.

"Let's bring them back to Balamb Garden." Squall sighed. He really hated the unknown; he could feel the headache coming. "We'll get our answers then."

* * *

I'd never thought I'd do a cross-over story, but this one just came to me.

There were some aspects of FFVIII that made me think, "Hey, this and this looks like something in ToA!" Then I started day-dreaming. I wasn't really sastified with ToA's ending cause you didn't know which one came back. I really wanted both of them to come back, so I theorized this: The light that shot up into the air, what if it was Lorelei bringing Luke and Asch to another place? To be revived and heal so they could come back?

And then there was FFVIII's ending. I really wanted Squeenix to make another Laguna-Squall interaction, cause the hints of them being father and son and the whole Rinoa being a sorceress. Squall's still the commander right? Isn't it is duty to kill sorceress? But if I added that into this story, I'll never complete it. So I'll just be content on finishing ToA's ending. =insert smiley face=

I have the rest of the chapters to still write and I apologize if my theories contradict something other things. I just wanted to write this out, and actually create a story with a plot instead of drabbles.

Which reminds me, I need to write another drabble for _Loving Snow._ Oops.


	2. Chapter 2

Gevurah  
---_KumoDango_

ToA belongs to Namco FFVIII belongs to Squeenix

**Spoilers** for the end of ToA and FFVIII

* * *

Emerald eyes watched the scenery, bored. At first he was a bit disturbed to find himself as a floating invisible ghost, but it did have its advantages. He was in unfamiliar land, in order to obtain information he needed to be discreet and not bring any attention to him. This was easy, seeing as he _is_ invisible.

The place where he and his other currently occupied was called 'Garden'. The students here seemed to be training to be mercenaries called 'SeeD'. From what he heard in the hallways, there seemed to be three Gardens: Balamb, Galbadia, and Trabia. It wasn't much different from the Oracle Knight's headquarters training system, although it seemed that everyone had an affinity for fonic artes.

No, not fonic artes. Magic. Instead of chanting incantations, the caster merely focused the fonons –no, it wasn't called fonons anymore. Mana, yes mana is the term used- and cast the spell. He had watched some SeeD-in-training. First, they 'draw' the magic spell from the monster to stock up their spell supply –although he did wonder how people knew when they reached their limit on how much spells they can stock up- and cast the spell at their target.

It certainly is easier for everyone to learn this method, but the power of magic is significantly weaker than fonic artes. Incantations were the key to make the spell strong; fonists used specific words for the specific elemental fonons. If you wanted to cast a fire spell, you use a fifth fonon incantation. The trainees here, they're just all-rounder spell casters; they can't focus their mana into specific spells to increase their strength. Their Firaga was weak compare to a certain Necromancer's Eruption.

However, the students from Trabia Garden hold potential to reach fonist's level. The brunette, Selphie Tilmitt, was exceptionally powerful in magic spells. The girl was also deadly with her nunchakus. Although he doubted her infiltration skills, the yellow overalls were way too bright to infiltrate any highly-guarded buildings.

The Rinoa Heartilly girl is excellent in magic as well but she seemed to have powers that were on different level than the rest. There was something more about the woman then she let on, it seemed to him that she was suppressing a greater power deep inside of her. Oh well, it wasn't his business to pry. Her weapon was interesting as well, a cross between a frisbee and a boomerang that was sharpened.

Speaking of Rinoa and Selphie, there was that blond instructor, Quistis Trepe. She had the oddest magic he had ever seen. She called it 'Blue Magic'. The instructor still used normal magic as everyone else, but she also had access to monster's magic. He still remembered how shocked he was when she used an attack called 'Micro Missiles', the icy-blue eyed lady was a force to be reckoned with. No normal human could suddenly whip out missiles like she can. To top it off, she had used a whip to hold the monsters in place while the missiles aimed at them.

The rest of the gang, the guys, mostly focused on physical attacks. Squall Leonhart, who was the commander of the Garden he found out later, relied on a most peculiar weapon. It was a gun, yet it was also a sword. Just by the design of the weapon, he knew the commander was skilled to handle an oddly shaped weapon like that. He'd sometimes watch Squall fight, to learn more about this 'gunblade'.

The cowboy used guns. Irvine Kinneas reminded him of Guy, without the gynophobia of course. He was constantly flirting with anything that walked on two legs, yes, even guys. Though everyone knew he was joking, for he had a soft spot on Selphie. Inside, he was relieved. If Guy didn't have gynophobia, he might have to listen to those idiotic pick-up lines he had heard the cowboy say to girls.

The last one, Zell Dincht used his fists. He wasn't much interesting as much as the others, but when he went into Overlimit mode –Limit Break mode, he must get used to these terms- Zell used astonishing acrobatic moves that would've put even the Dark Wings to shame.

He would love to spar with some of the SeeDs, but because of his body condition that seemed unlikely. The transparent figure floated next to his body. No matter how hard he tried, he could not enter it. He might as well be dead.

He looked over at the other occupant, his other half. The ghost nodded in self-satisfaction, his sacrifice wasn't meaningless then. The other was alive and healthy, albeit still sleeping. He didn't have any regrets, for once in his life he was content. Free of nightmares, free of burdens. Despite the knowledge of being forever unheard, there was no regret. He snorted in irony,_ the murderer countless thousands becomes a guardian angel._ _How amusing._

_

* * *

_Tired emerald eyes blinked open. This was new, he didn't recall Belkend having white walls. Usually everything was tinted beige. He sat up, a piercing headache made him fall back down. Flopping an arm over his eyes, he tried to organize his thoughts. They defeated Van, released Lorelei…

"Hey! You're awake!" A chirpy voice broke his thoughts. Once he removed his arm from his eyes, he was slightly blinded by a bright yellow figure. "Sleepy-head! What took you so long?"

"Selphie! Let him at least sit up first before you shoot questions at him." A motherly voice scolded at Selphie. A blond lady with glasses, who looked remarkably a lot like Jade, helped him sit up, steadying him. He muttered thanks before looking at his surroundings.

He guessed the yellow-overall woman was Selphie. There was a black-haired girl with brown streaks next to a very serious looking guy dressed in all leather next to a desk in front of him. A man wearing a cowboy hat blocking his face sitting in a chair behind the desk with his feet propped up, and another man with a huge tattoo on his face sitting on a chair next to his left.

"Umm… who are you all?" He scratched the back of his neck, it was a bit unnerving seeing all the attention directed at him.

"That's our line." The serious man replied in a monotone voice. The girl next to him elbowed him.

"Sorry. Squall here is a bit of a stiff." The redhead blinked at how casually she said that despite Squall glaring at her. "My name is Rinoa Heartily."

The tattooed man gave a very bright smile and waved. "Zell Dincht, nice to meet you!"

"Quistis Trepe." The blond lady nodded at the redhead.

The man with the cowboy hat raised his hate, showing his face to him finally. "Howdy, Irvine Kinneas at your service." Irvine gave a wink at the redhead. The cowboy reminded him of Guy. His appearance just screamed 'Ladies' Man'.

"Selphie! Nice to meet you!"

Everyone stared at the last person who had yet to introduce himself.

"…Squall." A nudge from Rinoa. "…Leonhart."

"A-ah..Nice to meet you all." The redhead felt a sweat-drop forming at the back of his head. Squall's personality reminded him of- wait! He jerked causing everyone to look at him with concern. "Was there someone else with me? He looks exactly like-"

Squall pointed a finger at the frantic redhead's left, cutting him off. Emerald eyes followed the finger's direction and relaxed. His other was there, pale. Was he still breathing? Fear washed over the redhead. He rushed over to his twin, but fell as he got caught in the blankets. Zell caught him as he fell. "Whoa! Don't start moving yet dude!"

"Sorry." Zell helped him back to his bed. "But…"

"Don't worry," Quistis said. "He's still alive."

"Since that's established," Squall started as he saw the redhead sigh in relief. "Who are you guys?"

"I'm…" To everyone else, the young stranger hesitated.

_Amnesia?_ Thought Squall, _It would make sense because he was possessed earlier by that light._ _Speaking of which, we have a lot to ask from this guy._

"Asch." He said eyes lit with conviction as if he decided on something. "He's…Luke fon Fabre." For some reason the air in the infirmary room chilled. Asch shuddered, he felt like something or someone was watching him with hatred.

"Asch. Luke." Selphie repeated, testing the name on her tongue. "What pretty names." To her surprise, Asch looked pained at the comment.

"Asch," Emerald eyes looked up. Squall wanted answers. "We have a lot to ask. For starters, who is this Lorelei? What is the Score?"

Asch was confused. Everyone knew of Lorelei. Heck, even the Order of Lorelei was named after the seventh fonon entity! And the Score as well, citizens were still in debate whether or not to follow it after Kimlasca and Malkuth decided to abandon the Score. _There's still probably some doubt, but it's a small step in the right direction._ Yet why did these people not know of Lorelei and the Score?

"I…don't understand. Everyone in Auldrant knows of Lorelei and the Score."

"Auldrant?" Irvine asked. "I don't know what country that is but you're in Balamb Garden right now, honey."

"Balamb…Garden?"

"Yeah," Selphie peered curiously at Asch. "You know, one of the three Gardens on Gaia."

_Garden? Gaia?_ Asch voiced out his thoughts.

The others became restless. Amnesia looked like a high-possibility now. Quistis sighed. "Did the light that possessed you wipe out your memory? Gaia is our planet's name."

Oh well. Shit. That made a lot of sense.

"But didn't Shiva mention that Asch and Luke weren't of this time?" Reminded Rinoa.

"Shiva is a summon." Explained Squall at Asch's confused look. He moved his hair back from his ear, revealing a Sapphire earring. "We form a pact with summons, Guardian Forces, by means of small accessories."

Everyone else revealed small accessories much like Squall's. Zell had an earring of Garnet, Rinoa a ring of Aquamarine, Irvine a small necklace with a Ruby gem in the middle, while Quistis exposed a bracelet with a Sardonyx in the middle. It was Selphie's accessory that caught Asch's attention. It was a ring of deep Emerald.

"May I look at that?" Asch pointed at the Emerald ring. Selphie handed it to him. He raised the ring up into the light, making the Emerald shine. The colour looked so familiar, it reminded him of Mieu's fur when it caught in the light.

"It looks like your eyes." Selphie commented. "Too bad your eyes aren't gold like before."

"My eyes were gold?" Asch was confused, his eyes were always a deep green.

"It was when you were possessed." Squall crossed his arms. "Seems like we're getting nowhere with the questions. From my guess, you've either have amnesia, or you're just a nut-case."

A flare of indignation welled up in Asch, how dare that stoic man assumed he was a nut-case! While he was silently fuming at Squall's comment, he didn't notic the Emerald ring glowing with energy building up inside of it.

_Don't call Master a nut-case!_

Everyone froze. No one recognized the voice, save for Asch. It was a fairly high-pitched and only one thing ever called him 'Master' in such an annoyingly high tone. Asch looked down at the ring.

"…Mieu?"

Spirals of green flew from the ring onto Asch's lap. A small jade creature twitched its long ears. It was the size of a small dog and had the deepest Ruby on its forehead.

"Master!" It chirped, burrowing its head into Asch's chest. It nuzzled its head against the redhead in greeting, sighing in contentment. Asch smiled and petted its head, despite the annoying voice, he felt relieved at least in this new world, he wasn't alone.

The others stood in shock as the Carbuncle _purred_ as Asch rubbed its head. Weren't Guardian Forces suppose to be neutral and never be involved in mortal affairs? Yet here was one acting like it was a _pet_, and nothing like the helpful magical GF the SeeDs were used to see on the battlefield.

"Hey Mieu, you've changed haven't you?" Asch took notice of the different structure of the creature before him. Mieu had certainly grown; he seemed more like a rabbit now. Longer arms and legs replaced the stubby ones that Asch remembered. His fur also had taken a deeper colour, the same colour as the emerald on the ring. But the main difference to Asch was the gigantic Ruby on the Cheagle's forehead and lack of Sorcerer's Ring. "You can talk without the Sorcerer's Ring?"

"Yes Master! Lady Hyne blessed me with so I can talk without it. She also gave me the power to become a Guardian Force!" Mieu bounced with happiness. "Lady Hyne also said I was useful master! Am I useful even though I can't use Mieu Fire, Mieu Attack or Mieu Wings, master?"

Laughing Asch petted Mieu's head. "Yes, you're still useful. That's why you're a Guardian Force right?"

"Master praised me!"

A cough interrupted their reunion, both of them looked over at the group embarrassed. Asch scratched the back of his neck. "Sorry. It's just…I'd thought I'd never see Mieu again."

"Because Master risked his life to free Lord Hyne!"

Silence.

Asch never knew one sentence could create such silence. It seems that what Mieu had said shocked the people in the room. Everyone stared at the pair bug-eyed, and then exploded into questions.

"You what!?"

"Freed Hyne!?"

"Our creator? You freed him!?"

"How!?"

"What is the meaning of this?" Though not loud as the other people's voices, it held a tone of authority that could not be ignored. Dr. Kadowaki walked inside the infirmary room frowning. "Patients need to be resting in a _quiet_ environment. I must ask you all to leave."

"Our apologies, doctor." Apologized Quistis, feeling a little bit mortified from losing her composure. "We'll leave right now." Motioning for the others to leave the room, she and the others left Asch and Luke in peace.

Squall turned around before leaving. "We'll finish our talk later." With that, the door closed shut.

"Don't mind him." Dr. Kadowaki said smiling. "He's just serious to a fault. He'll loosen up to you once he knows you a bit better. I'm Dr. Kadowaki, Balamb Garden's doctor. I take it your name is Asch?" He nodded. "Pleased to meet you. Now then, I'm just going to do a body check, would you mind asking your friend to please move?"

Asch looked down. His chest was covered in bandages. _Oh._ He couldn't recount where he had gotten his injuries from, probably from the Oracle Knights and from his final fight. He wasn't sure. It was such a blur now that he thought about it.

"Is…Luke alright?" Asch cast a glance over at his other. From his angle he could also see that the other had bandages wrapped around his chest as well.

"For the moment, yes."

"For the moment? What's wrong with him?"

"Nothing is wrong with him physically. Okay, breathe deeply, yes like that." She removed the stethoscope from his chest. "Based on his wounds, he should've woken up not long after you, but I did some brain scans…."

"And?"

"The results showed no brain activity."

"But…" Asch slumped in despair. "He's still alive right? Otherwise…you wouldn't have put him here. If he was dead…" He snorted. "Squall probably would've just left him where ever they found us."

"Quite right." The old woman smiled. "But don't worry. I think he is still alive. He's just missing something to come back to consciousness."

"Something missing?" Asch thought for a while. "Blood? A shock to the body?"

Dr. Kadowaki threw her head back and laughed heartily. "Oh heaven's no!" She wiped a tear away from her eye. She smiled at her patient's pout. "No, nothing like that. Medicine only goes so far, Asch. Something beyond my capabilities is what can help Luke here."

"But he can be saved right?" Desperate eyes looked up for hope.

_So young_, the doctor thought. _He shouldn't be burdened with something like this._ "I can't say for sure Asch, but there's always hope." She got up from her stool that she sat on for the examination and handed him a spare white coat. "I think you should walk to clear your mind. Since you know Luke more than I do, you can maybe think up of something to help."

Asch took the coat hesitantly. "I don't know anything about medicine though…"

"I've seen many cases in my life Asch. Experience has taught me that sometimes even medicine can't help a patient. Sometimes something familiar is what can wake a patient up." She moved her hands, shooing Asch to get him out of the infirmary room. "Now go. You can't think of something when the one you're worrying about is right next to you. "

Asch lifted up his arm for Mieu to jump on. "…Alright. I'll try."

* * *

Balamb Garden…is huge thought Asch. He got lost several times and had to ask directions, though most people stared awe-struck as they saw Mieu on his shoulder. But some were a bit wary at his bandages, so to avoid that he stopped asking directions. So far he got lost in the Training Center, library, the parking lot, and the cafeteria.

Currently, he was in the quad. It was surprisingly empty for the most part, the peace and quiet made Asch think of the events that happened so far. He watched Mieu smiling faintly as the cheagle tried to catch a butterfly. He leaned on the railing and viewed the scenery. A soft breeze made his tied-up hair fly behind him.

This world was so different yet so similar. Lorelei…Auldrant, they were replaced with different terms like Hyne and Gaia. At least that's what it seemed like according to what Mieu had said earlier. The summon had said he 'freed Hyne' and so far he only released one entity during his life, it made it obvious who Mieu was referring to. But then again, Miue had referred Hyne as a woman, and he was pretty sure Lorelei is a man.

Asch directed his thoughts to the Garden, he had learned that it was a huge hunk of machinery that could move. He didn't know if the machinery is similar to that of the fontech and fon machines in Sheridan though, but it is amazing this moving fortress.

"Gil for your thoughts?" A voice cut through his thoughts. He turned around and saw Squall and Rinoa approaching him.

"Hi." He said shyly. Rinoa he was fine with, but Squall is a little intimidating. Mieu jumped on Asch's head as if to comfort him.

"I'm a little envious. I don't think my bond with Carbuncle was ever that strong." Said Rinoa, despite her comment, she smiled at Asch and Mieu.

"Carbuncle…oh you mean Mieu." Asch scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah…long story short I save the little guy and his family. To repay that debt he had to travel with him for a year. I guess during that time we just got close, although I was pretty horrible to him in the beginning."

"That's not true master! You even gave me the name 'Thing'!"

"Yeah…that's why I say I haven't been really that great to you in the beginning."

Rinoa giggled and guided Squall so the couple could be next to Asch, along the rail. They listened to the conversation, it is interesting to see a Guardian Force act all cute. Rinoa always thought the GFs were lonely, always in the back of the summoner's mind and such. It felt refreshing to see these 'gods' express their personality.

"But master gave me a wonderful name!"

"I've told you, that's not really a nice name."

"Mieuu…Master is going to take back the name?" The green summon looked sad, it's voice a pitch higher in distress. "Is master going disown me? Or is master going to eat me like Jade said?"

"Gah…" Asch fondly scratched the creature's head. "Alright alright, keep the name. And you know Jade jokes, even though he always has a serious face…" He gave an inaudible sigh half in exasperation and half in weariness.

"You're troubled."

Asch glanced up surprised. The stoic man actually said something? He stared in wonder. Squall raised an eyebrow in question at Asch's staring. Asch quickly offered an explanation. "Sorry, I thought you wouldn't care…"

"Whatever."

"Sorry I didn't mean it like that!" Asch quickly apologized, afraid that he offended the male. Squall grunted. "But you're right…I am troubled."

"About what?" Inquired Rinoa.

"Luke." Asch said. "Dr. Kadowaki said he's physically fine, but he has no brain activity but he's not dead. I'm…not sure what I can do to help him. All that Dr. Kadowaki said that this was something beyond what medicine can do."

The four stood in comfortable silence. Enjoying the scenery and laughing as Mieu still tried to catch a butterfly but failing. They shared small stories of their life, but it was Rinoa that seemed more friendly with Luke. Something about Luke made Rinoa feel very nostalgic, but she brushed it off. Squall leaned on the rail, listening quietly and adding comments when needed when Luke shared his life in his manor. _Honestly, back then he really sounded like a spoiled brat_, the commander thought. Dawn broke, and the adults, plus the summon, watched in silence as the sun sank down behind the horizon.

"You'll find a way." Squall said softly, breaking the silence. Asch glanced at him while Rinoa smiled in understand. "I…had a similar case happened to me."

"We had to be sent into the future in order to defeat our enemy." Rinoa explained. "We defeated her, but Squall almost got lost coming back. I found him…Just like Luke he wasn't conscious, he just laid there."

"I thought I was a goner." Squall took Rinoa's hand in his own. He smiled softly. "But Rinoa saved me. It was cold, but then warmth flowed into me, next thing I know, we're in the middle of a field of flowers and Rinoa was there holding me crying."

"Oh you!" Rinoa laughed.

Asch smiled, joining in the laughter. Their story reminded him of a fairy tale story, where love always win, where dark days were gone and everything was filled with happiness and warmth.

Warmth.

"_But then warmth flowed into me."_

"Of course!" Asch shouted. Squall and Rinoa looked over at the redhead who was starting to leave the quad, Mieu following his footsteps. "Thank you so much! I think I know how to cure Luke now!"

"Do you know how to get back to the infirmary?"

The redhead quickly stopped at the brunette's voice. He looked back sheepishly. "No, I don't. Could you please lead me back?"

Squall sighed and led the way for Asch. Rinoa giggled once more and follow the pair back to where Luke was waiting.

* * *

"How are you going to cure him?" Asked Dr. Kadowaki. She stood near the back while Rinoa sat on Luke's right, Squall and Asch on Luke's left.

"I'm not sure?" Asch said weakly. He felt the man beside him sigh in annoyance. "But don't worry! I have a theory."

"What theory is that, master?"

"I think I have the thing missing that he needs to wake up, something familiar that I took from him." Explained Asch. He looked over to the brunette. "If I look like I'm losing control, punch me. That should wake me up. But I doubt that's going to happen."

"What are you doing?" Stormy eyes gazed back confused.

Asch smiled. "Trust me."

Asch closed his eyes in concentration. He raised his arms to his chest and took a deep breath. Summoning the power within him, he felt the familiar warmth on his fingertips. A gasp was heard and Asch knew that his hands were covered in gold. Hyperresonance.

He focused and searched deep inside of him. The power that was his and yet not his, the power that belonged to another person, to the other half of him that needed it to live. He would give it to him. Asch would return Luke his hyperresonance.

Warmth filled his entire body and felt it left his body. Asch opened his eyes and managed to catch gold swirls surrounding and fading into Luke before nearly crashing to the ground. Squall managed to save the redhead from meeting the floor.

"Master! He's waking up!"

Nearly slipping from rushing towards his other, Asch watched in anticipation as Luke opened his eyes. He smiled as emerald eyes met emerald…and his face promptly met the floor. "Ow!"

Asch grabbed Squall's hand and got back up. He was about to yell at Luke but he saw the furious look that was being shot at him. "What was that for?"

"Stupid dreck!" Snarled Luke. "You took my name, my home, my _life_. And now you even take more away from me." Luke got up from his bed as he shouted at Asch. "Is my everything so desirable?!"

"No!" Asch shouted in denial. "It's not like that!"

"Then what is?!" Luke gave no time for the other to reply. "Just don't…don't come near me, dreck!" Luke stormed out of the room ignoring this twin's cries.

"Damn it." Asch muttered. "Damn it!" He punched the wall in anger. Rinoa was about console him but what the redhead said next made her freeze. "Don't you _dare_ run away from me, Asch!" 'Asch' ran after the redhead.

"Asch?" Rinoa said. "But…that was Asch…right?"

"Master is master, Asch is Asch." Said the green creature before it hopped off after the redheads.

Squall frowned at the enigmatic answer, he really hated the unknown. He sighed, this was taking a familiar routine. "Let's follow them."

* * *

Annnd....chapter 2.

Well, in this chapter I mentioned some of the things that made me go, "Hey, this looks like this!". The Carbuncle-Mieu thing made me laugh. Cause on my screen while I'm playing ToA, Mieu looks green to me. When I looked on the internet, I realized he's a bit more blue then I imagined. Oh well~

Did I fool you guys with the Asch thing? I hope I did. During the game when Asch fought to let Luke go ahead (aw!) He said, "Asch-no. You're fight is with me! Luke fon Fabre!"  
So I took that, and worked with it. Big Bang Theory makes my head spin, but I was wondering, if Luke and Asch really did fuse together, wouldn't Luke see that particular memory?

Hope my style isn't too choppy. But I feel like my story is sometimes, "Info. Info. Info. Info." And no really good transition. Dang.


	3. Chapter 3

Gevurah  
---_KumoDango_

ToA belongs to Namco FFVIII belongs to Squeenix

**Spoilers** for the end of ToA and FFVIII

* * *

It wasn't hard finding the redheads. The students in Balamb Garden were in a frenzy, claiming that there was a fight breaking out in the quad between two redheads. Quickly assuming role, Squall ordered the students to not enter and leave the vicinity.

Seeing that Mieu had already entered the quad, Squall and Rinoa silently followed the noises of fighting, getting louder and louder as they got closer. They hid behind a wall and watched in shock as the sterner redhead used magic they had never seen before.

"_O roar of earth, bring forth the fangs of the mighty dragons…_" Asch chanted. "_Ground Dasher!"_

'Asch' dodged the spikes of earth coming his way. Flipping backwards, he crouched down before projecting his body forward trying to punch the other redhead. "Please, Asch! Stop this!"

"What's the matter, _Luke._" Taunted Asch. Squall and Rinoa shared a glance. So 'Asch' was really Luke. "Can't handle fonic arts?"

Luke moved his head to avoid a punch to his head. "No! Just…" He ducked as Asch tried to kick at his head. Luke brought out his legs, trying to trip Asch. "Let me explain!"

"Explain?" Asch jumped backwards. He let out a bitter laugh. "There's nothing _to_ explain! Clearly taking my life wasn't enough, now you want to take 'Asch' as well?"

"No! It isn't like that, Asch." Luke put a hand to his chest, desperately trying to get Asch to understand. "I thought that was what you wanted!"

"What _I_ wanted?" the redhead snarled in disgust. "Could you be any more annoying, replica! What do you know what I want?!"

"Replica?" Squall whispered, the gears in his head turning over that implication.

"You're infuriating!" Continued Asch. "Why would you think I would want to be called 'Luke'?! I'm not the 'Light of the Sacred Flame' anymore. I'm just the ashes."

"Then why…" Luke demanded. "Why did you use the name 'Luke fon Fabre' just before you died!?"

Asch turned solemn. "You weren't suppose to hear that."

"So you didn't want me to know that you wanted your life back?" Luke said quietly. "I…would gladly give it back, you know."

"Shut up!" Asch stomped over to Luke and grabbed his collar. "How can you give your life away so easily?!"

"It's not easy!" Luke shouted back. "It's not…It's not easy for me. I'm scared. But it wasn't mine in the first place. But after our fight at Eldrant, I thought you accepted me." Luke shook Asch's grip on him and stepped back one step. "But then you…before fighting those Oracle Knights, you said their fight was with Luke fon Fabre. Not Asch."

"Stupid replica." Asch sighed in annoyance. "I wasn't taking your place."

"But-!"

"Make no mistake, after our fight in Eldrant we established who the real 'Luke' is." Asch said, walking a few steps back to lean against the railing, back facing Luke. "I didn't want to die…as a murderer."

Luke hesitantly walked forward to Asch. "You're not a murderer."

Asch snorted. "Right and you're actually eighteen years old."

"Hey!"

"I've killed so many, under Van's orders." Asch sighed and stared at his hands, looking at the invisible blood only visible for him. "All for the sake of the Score."

"That doesn't make you a murderer! Back then you had no choice, after the kidnapping. Who else could you have trusted?" Protested Luke. "You had a purpose, something to fight for. You're not the one…who carelessly used a power that killed an entire town."

"Still soft as ever."

"You know it's true."

Asch exhaled, "A murderer is still a murderer. You didn't go to Akzeriuth wanting to kill. I, on the other hand, have mercilessly slaughtered thousands."

"Asch…"

"You wasted your time, replica. You should've just left me to die. No one would miss me."

Luke stared shocked at Asch. "Of course there are people that would miss you! What about mother and father, me, and the others?" Luke's voice took a desperate tone. "What about Natalia?"

"They're not the ones waiting for my return, dreck." Asch turned to leave, walking past Luke. "They're waiting for the real Luke to come back." Squall and Rinoa went into a panic, they quickly scrambled to hide themselves from the incoming Asch. But their actions were deemed unnecessary as Asch stopped walking in their direction when Luke spoke.

"'Some day, when we're grown up, let's change this country. Change it so that no one has to be poor. Change it so that war never happens'" Luke's quiet voice made Asch freeze mid-step. "'Let's work to change our country. For the rest of our lives. Together.'"

"You-!"

"You didn't say that to Natalia because she was a princess." Luke said softly, walking towards Asch. "And she didn't say it because you were 'Luke'. It doesn't matter who you are. Despite what you think, there are people who want you to come back."

Asch stood there hesitating. Luke smiled to himself, hesitation is good. It shows that Asch was considering coming back with him to the others.

Luke stood in front of Asch. He grasped both hands in his own, interlocking the fingers in a comforting grip. Luke smiled when Asch showed no resistance. "Let's take our tainted hands…" Luke leaned his forehead against Asch's, emerald eyes full of light and determination. Not like the twin eyes that were staring back at him, filled with slight uncertainty. "And find our place under the sunshine..." Luke tilted his head and smiled. "To find the meaning of our birth."

"Don't…"Emerald eyes stared back hopeful. "Don't expect much, dreck."

Luke squeezed Asch's hands in gratitude. He smiled, "Thank you."

He blinked however, when Asch suddenly narrowed his eyes.

"_Oh violent torrent…_"

"A-Asch?!" Luke braced himself for the rush of water.

"_Splash!"_

"Gah!"

Luke blinked owlishly as Rinoa, Squall and Zell came from behind a wall running away from the water. He felt his face burn. They…they had seen that?! If they were here…then the rest should be somewhere listening. Luke searched around his surroundings. There! _They aren't getting away_, thought Luke, who still felt mortified that the others had seen him like that, he wanted revenge. And what better revenge is to soak them?

"_Blessed Drops!"_

Selphie, Irvine, and Quistis ran to avoid the water, yelling in displeasure as the water followed them, intent to finish the job. Luke stared at his hand in surprise. He casted the fonic art without any problems... he had never casted that art before yet he did it without any hesitation or mistakes.

/Since when can _you_ use fonic arts?/

Luke yelped and jumped in the air, drawing curious stares at him. He smiled sheepishly and sent a glare at the redhead. /Don't scare me like that!/

/Idiot. All this time and you're still not used to our connection?/

/Usually something warned me before you contacted me./ Luke looked annoyed. /Which was pain, by the way./

/Humph. Answer the question, dreck./

/You could be nicer./ An impatient glare was sent Luke's way. /I didn't know I could cast fonic arts until now, happy? I just wanted to soak those guys in water just like you did, and somehow I managed to cast Blessed Drops. I guess watching Jade fight paid off./

/So you are capable of processing information and using it to your advantage./

/Hey!/

/But it makes me wonder. If you were studying Jade, during the journey you should've been able to cast fonic arts then. Why now?/

/That is true…/ Luke thought what had happened during his journey. He didn't feel any different, the only time when he felt any change was when… /Do you think after _that_… giving me the second-order hyperresonance caused me to get the power to use fonic arts because you can?/

/…That is possible./ Asch contemplated deeply. /I didn't open up the connection until after I was about to die, so it is possible you gained my memories from my hyperresonance. It would explain how you know things you weren't suppose to know./

Luke shuddered. /Don't…don't say that./

/That I died?/ Asch smirked. /Stupid dreck, you've seen so much death and yet you're still afraid of the concept of it? /

/It's just…_wrong_ to hear you say it like that./

A voice brought the redheads to the soaking gang. Selphie put her hands on her hips. "You big meanies! We were just concerned and this is the thanks we get?"

Irvine took off his hat to wring out his hair. "That's right! I don't appreciate this, honey."

"You know, he reminds me of this character from the 'Tales of Two Worlds'…." Luke said. "I think is name is Zelos."

"He even uses the same words." Asch added. "Now if only he wore pink and dyed his hair, he'd look and act exactly like him."

"Would that get me more girls?"

"No, but it would make us laugh at you."

"Aw. I'm hurt."

"It's your fault for eavesdropping."

"We were worried!" Repeated Zell. "Students came running saying that two redheads were fighting to the death using strange magic."

"Can't expect us to ignore that, can we?" Rinoa said.

"Anyways." Quistis coughed to get attention. "What are you going to do about the damage here from your fight?"

The redheads glanced around. Because of lack of weapons, the two had resulted using fonic arts, Asch more specifically, Luke just relied on martial arts. The ground was torn up by earth fonic arts, and some trees were burnt as well.

"Asch's fault." The older redhead glared at his other. "What? It's true! You're the one casting fonic arts everywhere."

"I'll file for repairs." Squall waved a hand showing it wasn't that much of a big deal. "But more importantly. You have some explaining to do, especially the whole switching name routine."

Luke scratched the back of his neck while Asch stood there as the others, excluding Squall and Rinoa, demanded for answers.

They had a lot of explaining to do.

* * *

"Where to start…"wondered Luke. Everyone gathered in a spare classroom and took a seat waiting for the explanation.

"Explaining where you guys came from would be nice." Squall said.

"Right. Where we're from." Luke said sheepishly. "Auldrant is our world's name."

"We already know that." Selphie said nearly bursting with impatience. "What about the bright gold light that kept surrounding you? And the Score and Lorelei that Shiva mentioned?"

"The Score is a reading predicted by Yulia Jue, a seventh fonist, telling of Auldrant's future. " Asch explained. "The main countries, Kimlasca and Malkuth, fought for the Score which could be read by Fonstones, and created war."

"Our planet is made up of fonons," Luke took over, seeing that the gang was confused about fonists. "For a long time, there were only six fonons: darkness, earth, wind, water, fire, and light. Each fonon category has an entity to represent each fonons. But then, people discovered a new fonon, sound. The entity for that is Lorelei."

"So then why," Quistis began. "Did Shiva call you Lorelei?"

Luke looked down while Asch closed his eyes. Neither knew how to begin to explain, if they explained it too briefly, then the others would ask questions. Questions that were painful for the two. It brought back memories that should be buried.

---

_"Luke, one day you will become the king of this country."_

_"Because you are the chosen one."_

_"Master Van! Why?! Where is this place?! Let me go!"_

_"For the sake of the world, your power is needed."_

_I need to return._

_I have to return._

_Everyone at the manor is worrying about me._

_"Give up, we've already created a replacement for you."_

_"That's a lie!"_

_---_

_"Foolish replica Luke."  
_

_"...Betrayed me? Then, Master Van really did want me to destroy Akzeriuth?"_

_No, this was his chance to be a hero!_

_"You're a second-rate copy of me! A mere replica!"_

_No! No!_

_"It's not true! It's not true!"_

_I was suppose to save everyone...  
_

_---  
_

"ND2000. In Kimlasca shall be born one who inherits the power of Lorelei. He will be a boy of royal blood and hair of red. He shall be called 'The Light of the Sacred Flame' and he will lead Kimlasca-Lanvaldear to new prosperity." Asch began keeping his eyes closed. "That was a prophesy from the Score. Well, part of actually. I was born eighteen years ago and received Lorelei's power. You could say I'm essentially Lorelei himself."

"Wow." Selphie bounced with excitement. A prince was right there in front of her! "So then 'Asch' means 'The Light of the Sacred Flame'?"

"No, it doesn't. It's my name that does." Luke answered for Asch.

/Do you want me to continue?/

/I'll do it. Might as well finish this./

A pulse of regret was sent though the connection. /I'm sorry./

/Shut up./ The sentenced lacked the anger, only tiredness.

"I was kidnapped when I was seven." Asch continued. "During that time, experiments were done on me, under the orders of my former teacher, Van. The Score had predicted my death for Kimlasca's prosperity but Van needed my powers to destroy the Score. So for that, he needed a replica to die in my place."

"And the replica is Luke." Squall concluded, remembering the shouted words from the redheads' duel earlier.

Asch nodded. "Van created a perfect replica of me, down to the last bit that Luke was also able to receive the powers of Lorelei. He returned Luke to my family, and I was replaced. I changed my name to Asch, and served under Van."

"Why would you do that?" Zell said in outrage. "He's the one who kidnapped you and totally ruined your life!"

Luke flinched but otherwise remained silent. Asch glared at Zell. "I was seven, who else was I suppose to trust? Van had said it was for my own good and I whole-heartedly agreed." Zell went quiet.

"Time passed and Kimlasca-Malkuth tension was high. War was almost certain. When war did break out, we managed to find out Van's plans to replicate the entire world and destroy the originals."

"How could he do that though?" asked a shocked Rinoa.

"It's a long story. But he had to absorbed Lorelei to do it." Asch waved a hand in dismiss. "After that, Luke, his companions, and I went to defeat Van to release Lorelei to save Auldrant. During the fight to get to Van, I-"

"Had an _incident_ that made you unable to fight Van." Luke inject quickly, stressing on the word 'incident' very sharply.

Asch gave an annoyed sigh. "_Fine._ I had an _incident_ where it made me unable to fight Van. Luke and the others defeated Van. Luke released Lorelei, and since I'm also the one who shares Lorelei's power, both of us got sent here."

The others sat back, taking in the information that was just said. Squall considered the facts given to him. There were too many holes left unexplained. But he knew he probably wouldn't get answers, he understood that there are things better left unsaid. Judging by Luke's interjection, it almost seemed like Asch almost _died_ getting there to Van.

"So Lorelei can speak though either of you?" Both redheads nodded at Irvine's question.

"There's one thing that bothers me." Quistis said. "Lorelei said that to come here 'it was the only way', why?"

"We were both near death," Luke said too quickly. He didn't want to explain the Big Bang Theory. It would just lead to too many questions, and even Luke himself didn't really understand the whole theory. Plus, he didn't want to say that Asch had died and gave him the second-order hyperresonance.

Squall noticed Luke's uneasiness. He changed the subject. "Lorelei mentioned Origin. Is that a clue on how to return to your world?" Luke gave a thankful smile at Squall.

"It could be." Luke rubbed his chin in thought."I've heard that name before."

"Origin is the Ruler of All. You should know, you've read 'Tales of Two Worlds'." Luke nodded slowly still trying to remember who Origin is. "He's one of the summons of Sheena, the pact maker. He is the summon said to be able to control time."

"You don't think that's real, do you?" said a disbelieving Luke. "That's all myths!"

"It was also a myth that Lorelei existed."

"Then if this Origin is a summon…" Rinoa said. "He's got to be a Guardian Force right? What will happen if you find him?"

Luke and Asch shared a glance and nodded. They had both reached the same conclusion.

"If we find him, he might be able to send us back to Auldrant."

* * *

Chapter three~!

If anyone knows that the english translation of the Karma lyrics, you'll know why I added those lines in the story when Luke was trying to convince Asch that people do miss him.

And I'm not making up the 'Tale of Two Worlds' it's actually mentioned in ToA. In a little secret place created by Noir. I actually squealed when I saw Lloyd's outfit there.

So I guess I'm crossing ToS into this as well, since Origin is mentioned to send Luke and Asch back. Care to take a guess which GF I'm using to represent Origin?

* * *


	4. Chapter 4

Gevurah  
---_KumoDango_

ToA belongs to Namco FFVIII belongs to Squeenix

**Spoilers** for the end of ToA and FFVIII

* * *

Late at night, the Commander of Balamb Garden wandered. He never did feel at ease at night where there were possible sneak attacks. Even though all the Gardens signed a peace treaty after the defeat of Ultimecia, there were still people who believed in Galbadia's ideal and wished to destroy Balamb Garden.

And there were still people who wanted to kill Rinoa. Amazing what fear does to people, despite Squall and his comrades defeating Ultimecia and releasing Gaia from evil sorceresses, people still thought that Rinoa was a threat to the world. It is true Rinoa is the last sorceress alive, but she is a white sorceress, not a black sorceress like Ultimecia.

And there was the issue with the redheads. There was too much to think about, let alone sleep. Squall and Rinoa had heard the entire conversation between them. Thankfully, the others only managed catch the end of their conversation and then get soaked by Asch and Luke.

There were many questions unanswered when Asch and Luke told their story. Why had Lorelei choose this world specifically? What did he mean by _this_ time? And Asch's life-threatening injuries caused by the 'incident' that Luke mentioned, it certainly wasn't just an 'incident'. Squall remembered when Lorelei released his hold on Luke and how Luke had checked for Asch's pulse, he had looked so afraid that Asch was going to die.

Speaking of Lorelei, the golden glow of when Luke was possessed reminded him of their special power, hyperresonance. Luke, earlier in the duel, had said he was a murderer, using a power that killed an entire town. Squall bet that power was hyperresonance. But, seeing how Luke had used that power to wake Asch, the fear of Balamb Garden being wiped out died down a little. But still, it was a bit unsettling that a man shorter than him can wipe out an entire town with that power.

Sounds of fighting brought Squall out of his thoughts. It sounded like two blades crossing each other with an occasional spell cast, Squall sighed instantly knowing who they were. After the explanation by Luke and Asch, they had asked for blades to spar claiming they didn't want to get rusty. Dr. Kadowaki was a bit skeptical of letting Asch fight so soon with in injuries, but Asch said that the idiot wouldn't be able to touch him.

Eventually that led to a sparring match between the two, and since then they never stopped fighting unless to eat or sleep. Squall made his way down the steps of the quad and watched the two spar. It was interesting to see two identical faces fight each other with the same moves and spells. Who knows? Maybe Squall could learn some of their moves. If he used the gunblade while using Swallow Fury and firing bullets at the same time, he'd bet the monster would take in some serious damage.

---

_Clash_. "Hey, Asch?"

"Hm?" _Dodge_. _Clash_.

"Do you really think we can go back?"

_Clang_. "And I thought you were the optimistic one."

"Yeah well," _Grunt_. _Clang_. "I guess your pessimistic personality rubbed off on to me."

_Clang_. _Jump_. "Shut up." _Clash. Clash. Clink._ "You let your guard down."

Luke flopped to the ground, his sword beside him with the blade in the ground. He stared at the sky, the first reason why he liked sparring in the quad, it offered so much scenery to see. Plus it was usually empty which made fighting much more easier. "So do you?"

Asch sheathed his sword and sat down across from Luke. "Who knows? All we can do is try."

The pair sat in comfortable silence. Luke moved to lie down on his back, stretching out his muscles after a long day of sparring and worrying. Crossing his arms behind his head, he tried to see if he knew any constellations. He heard Asch shift into a better sitting position and knew his original was staring at the sky as well.

"You can come out now."

Luke moved his head and saw Squall emerge from behind the wall. How Asch can sense people he did not know.

/Cause you let your guard down too fast, idiot./

/Shut up./

"What are you doing here so late?" Luke asked Squall.

"Just doing rounds."

"Really?" Said a curious Luke. "Balamb Garden is like an impenetrable fortress. There shouldn't be any need to do rounds, is there?"

"You never know." Squall took a seat next to Luke. "There are still people who harbor grudges against Gardens."

Luke gave a small 'oh' and resumed looking at the night sky. Beside him, Squall and Asch were discussing the next course of action on how to find Origin. He knew he should be paying attention but he was dosing off from the fight with Asch. He never knew how hard it was to focus and cast spells. Jade made it look like casting spells is a walk in the park. But then again, when Jade was nine he casted high-level fonic arts that even adults two times his age couldn't even do.

"We'll be going to Esthar," Squall said. "We'll talk to Dr. Odine to see if he has any information on Origin."

"Is he trust-worthy?" Ask Asch.

"To an extent, yes." Squall said after thinking. "He won't spread your story to others, he might just want to research you specifically."

A suspicious gaze was thrown at Squall. "What type of research?"

"Since you are essentially Lorelei himself, Dr. Odine might want to research you for information." Squall said carefully. He knew the redhead's background with experiments. "He might want to see if he can take some of your power and convert it into a Guardian Force for others to use. He is the man that created Guardian Forces by the way."

"If worst comes to worst Asch, let him research me." Luke said drowsily. "I'm used to them anyways."

"No." Was the firm reply back to Luke. "You don't know what that doctor will do to you."

"It can't be that bad."

"No, and that's final."

"Yes, _mother_." Asch playfully hit Luke on the head, but otherwise remained firm with his decision. He didn't want anyone to experience what he had during his kidnap. Squall reassured the two that he would control Dr. Odine from any unnecessary actions and if he did do any of those actions, he would personally punch the man himself. He explained that the doctor tried to experiment on Rinoa as well a few weeks ago, though Squall stressed clearly that punching him was because it breeched SeeD conduct and not because he is Rinoa's over-protective boyfriend that has issues with other people touching her.

"Jealousy much?" Asch and Luke snickered a bit as Squall took on a reddish hue across his face. Asch then tilted his head when he thought of something, "Why did Dr. Odine have need to examine Rinoa? If she was sick, Dr. Kadowaki could've examined her instead."

"You don't need to answer that." Luke said, noticing Squall's hesitation in answering that question. "I mean, me and Asch are strangers, so it's not like we have the right to pry into your lives." Maybe Rinoa had an incurable disease and Squall is too heartbroken to talk about it.

/That's highly unlikely./

/You never know./

/Whatever./

/You know, you're becoming like Squall. You're even using the same words./

/…Whatever./

Luke gave a small smirk as Asch crossed his arms in denial. He didn't notice that he and Asch were giving off very interesting facial expressions during their conversation that captured Squall's attention. Although Asch wasn't very good at expressing himself, Luke took on the job of expressing both of their emotions. Nevertheless, Luke did such a good job that Squall had to cover his mouth to suppress his chuckles.

"My apologies." Squall said when Luke pouted at him. "I didn't know you guys shared some twin traits, considering your case. It's like you guys can communicate through your minds." He blinked when Luke and Asch shared a glanced and smiled back mischievously at him.

"Something like that, yeah." Luke replied. "It's because of our fon slots are the same, we can link together and talk through that connection. Although on my part it usually involved pain when Asch would contact me back then." Luke sent a mock glare at Asch and laughed as he dodged a swipe to his head.

"I see." Squall gave a faint smile at the brotherly affection those two showed. It reminded him of the time at the orphanage with Ellone. Not to say there weren't any sibling affections now, but the feeling was nostalgic. Maybe that's why he felt so at ease with the redheads, they had something he had lost when he was a child. Also, there was just _something_ about the pair that made him trust them, especially Luke. Maybe…it wouldn't be harmful to tell them.

"The reason to why Dr. Odine tried to examine Rinoa," Luke and Asch stopped their quarrel to listen to Squall. They weren't expecting the commander to actually explain. They felt honoured considering that they were complete strangers that Squall was willing to share something, especially something about this girlfriend. "…Is because she is a sorceress."

"Sorceress?" Luke was confused. "But a sorceress is like a witch right? They can cast magic too, so wouldn't everyone be considered Sorceress's as well because they can cast spells?"

Squall shook his head. "It's different here. You need a Guardian Force to cast magic. But with sorceresses, they can cast magic effortlessly and naturally. They're also dangerous and can become insane because of the power they have. Rinoa is fine because she has me, her Knight. But Dr. Odine wanted to examine her to study more about sorceresses, all we know is that they are Hyne's descendents and at near death, they must transfer their powers on to another sorceress in order to die peacefully."

"Oh." Luke breathed out. The redheads were a bit shocked to find out that the sweet, small girl they have seen was actually this powerful. But then again, the twins were reminded of Anise. It doesn't pay to underestimate people just because they are small, especially when they have a doll that can turn into a giant and punch you so hard that you fly into the air. Same with Mieu, Luke didn't expect the small cheagle to breathe fire, fly, and use his head to smack various objects.

Speaking of Mieu, Luke remembered something Mieu had said that confused him. "Hey Squall?" Luke asked. "Who is Hyne anyways? Or more importantly, is he a guy or a girl? Mieu mentioned Hyne as both genders."

Squall was slightly taken back. After explaining about Rinoa, this is the first thing they say? "You're not afraid?"

It was the twin's turn to be taken back. "At Rinoa?"

Squall nodded, "Most people would fear Rinoa because of her powers and the possibility that she'll go insane. That's why SeeD is around, if there is any chance of Rinoa being a threat to the world, we will assassinate her."

"But!" Luke sat up in astonishment. He saw Asch widening his eyes as well. "Aren't you the commander of Balamb Garden? The person _leading_ SeeDs?!"

"I am." Squall said calmly. "If in any case Rinoa loses her sanity, I will lead SeeD to exterminate the world's threat. I will be the one to strike her down."

"But…"Luke said miserably. "That's so _wrong_, to strike down a love one."

"Oh, don't be like that Luke." A familiar voice cut through the sad atmosphere. "I'm not going to lose my sanity." Rinoa appeared behind the men looking cheerful, despite knowing she was the topic of the discussion and hearing that her boyfriend would kill her if she went insane. "I have my faithful Knight here to keep me sane." She hugged Squall, smiling.

"If you say so…" Luke said still a bit dubious.

"Of course!" Rinoa replied with enthusiasm. "Plus Dr. Odine said that I'm a white sorceress, so the chances of my going insane are slim to none."

"What!?"

Luke and Asch stared at Squall at the same time, faces demanding at the brunette on how he could miss that small _vital_ piece of information. Squall shrugged. "I was getting there, but you interrupted me before I could explain."

Luke flopped back down while Asch smacked a hand at his forehead. Rinoa laughed and playfully hit Squall on the shoulder for his dramatic explanation. "Oh right," Rinoa said, realizing neither Squall nor herself had answered Luke's question. "Hyne is male, from what I know."

"Oh." Luke said. Weird, then why had Mieu said 'Lady Hyne'? At Rinoa's questioning gaze he explained. "It's just that Mieu had said Lady Hyne and Lord Hyne as well, so I got confused on what gender Hyne really is."

"The cheagle had said you 'released Lord Hyne', doesn't that make him Lorelei?" Asch said. "Obviously he would be male."

"Yeah, but Mieu doesn't mistake gender that easily." Luke said. He thought about what Mieu had said when he had just woken up in the infirmary. Luke twisted his neck sharply at Asch when he realized something. "Hey wait! You weren't awake when he said that, how did you hear that?"

Asch shrugged. "I was a ghost while I was unconscious. During that time you couldn't hear me, but I could hear you."

"That would explain the sudden drop in temperature when I said my name was Asch."

While the two went off into another discussion, Rinoa fiddled with her rings thinking about what Asch had said. Luke released Lorelei. Mieu had said Luke released Lord Hyne. But if Asch and Luke were from a different world, Lorelei wouldn't be Hyne. Yet, Carbuncle knew Luke and defiantly said that Luke released her ancestor.

"What's on your mind?" Rinoa looked up at Squall, concerned stormy eyes peering down on her.

"Have you ever thought," Rinoa began hesitantly. "That maybe Luke and Asch aren't from another world?" This got everyone's attention at Rinoa's statement.

"What do you mean?" Asch narrowed his eyes in thought.

"I mean, when Lorelei was in Luke, Shiva had said they were not of this time." Rinoa explained. "She said _this_ time, not world, but time."

"Lorelei said that too," Luke added, remembering the seventh fonon entity's words before engulfing him and Asch in gold. "He said 'This time lacks the seventh fonons needed. We must go somewhere else.'"

"But what I don't get is," Rinoa said confusedly, "If Luke had released Lorelei, there would've been some records of that. I've checked the library and the only legends about Hyne mentioned none of that."

"What kind of legends are there about Hyne?" Asch inquired. "We didn't have a lot of legends about Lorelei either." Rinoa took a deep breath and began to recite the legend she had read countless times in the library.

"Once upon a time, there was a person named Hyne. Hyne was the ruler of the world. He became lazy and decided to make a tool to make his life easier. Hyne made a neat tool. His tool could make more tools by itself. Soon there were a lot of tools on the world. These tools were actually people."

"When Hyne woke up, he was surprised because there were a lot of people. Hyne wanted to reduce the number of people, and used magic to burn up a lot of small people. The small people were children. The people cherished the children very much. So the people rebelled against Hyne. Hyne used powerful magic to fight them. The people couldn't use magic, but they had wisdom."

"Eventually, Hyne began to lose the war, because there were too many people to fight, and they were getting smarter. Therefore, he decided to make peace with people by offering them half of his body along with his powers. Hyne cut his body in half and gave the people half as he promised."

"Then, another war started." Luke and Asch glanced at each other, this was getting familiar. "People began to fight over the power Hyne offered them through his body. This war lasted decades. Finally, King Zebalga and the Zebalga tribe emerged victorious and demanded Hyne's body-half to get its powers. But the body ignored their commands."

"Then, Vascaroon came to the rescue. He appeared before the confused Zebalgas and revealed to them that Hyne's body-half was corrupt and possessed no real power. The body-half was actually Hyne's cast-off skin. The Zebalgas were angered by this truth, and decided to destroy Hyne. The Zebalgas never found Hyne. People began to call him "Hyne the Magician" and continued to hunt him for centuries to come." Rinoa concluded, leaning back on Squall after finishing the long legend about Hyne.

"Asch…" Luke stared wide-eyed at Asch, the legend; it was so similar to the records he read in the Baticul castle.

Asch nodded. He had read them as well. "It's the same, just different terms used."

"What do you mean?" Squall raised an eyebrow in question.

"The legend that Rinoa just told us, it's similar to the records of the Fonic War in our time." Asch explained. "Long ago, people in Malkuth and Kimlasca fought for the Score which was left behind by Lorelei and Yulia. Since the Score could tell disaster and prosperity, a war was fought for many decades, until the Order of Lorelei intervened, promising that they'll read the Score as a neutral country as Daath."

"I'm not too sure about the whole 'Hyne the Magician' thing," Luke said. "But everything else matches up. Hyne's cast-off body is the Score, Zebalga is probably Malkuth or Kimlasca and the Vascaroon is Daath, and the war is defiantly the Fonic War."

"There are bound to be discrepancies in legends," Squall said unruffled. "Back then people probably exaggerated to make Hyne seem evil to scare little children or something."

Luke smiled at the thought, it was hard to imagine Lorelei as an evil monster or something. Seventh fonons are so gentle after all. "So I guess that means me and Asch are in the future."

"Seems like it." Asch looked and saw dawn breaking. "We've been talking for this long?" Luke broke out into a yawn, proof that the four had been talking for hours and hardly slept a wink.

Rinoa stood up and stretched. "We might as well try to get as much rest as we can before we head off to Esthar today."

"Joy."

The caramel-streaked girl lightly shoved her boyfriend as he stood up, making him stumble. "Come on Squall, you know you want to see Laguna even though you think he is annoying."

"Laguna?" Asch asked curiously as he supported Luke from falling on the ground, again.

"The president of Esthar." Rinoa pointed at Squall. "And father of Squall."

"Whoa," Luke said impressed. "Your dad is the president?"

Squall crossed his arms and turned away, slightly embarrassed. "Yeah, but the idiot doesn't know I know he is my father."

"Squall and the others were raised in an orphanage," Rinoa explained. "Their sister, Ellone, was kidnapped by Esthar to be a candidate for a sorceress called Adel. Laguna rushed off to save her, but had to leave his wife, Raine, who was pregnant with Squall. She died alone, and Laguna thinking that Squall had died as well, became the president of Esthar after the citizens nominated him for trapping and sending Adel into space."

"Oh." The redheads felt a bit awkward, it is true that their father is an amazingly stubborn and harsh duke, but to have a father not realize that his son was right there in front of him must be hard. Luke hesitantly asked, "You…don't hate him do you?"

"No." Squall replied. "He is an idiot and hopelessly optimistic, but he's my only living blood relative. I decided that when he tells me the truth, I would forgive him." Squall shrugged. "I would've done what he had done, to save Ellone. Can't hate him for that, can I?"

Luke smiled and broke out into another jaw-breaking yawn. Asch made a noise of disapproval when Luke unsteadily swayed while walking. "You, need to go back to bed."

"Yes, _mother_."

Luke waved goodbye to Squall and Rinoa as Asch dragged him back to their room.

"Well," Rinoa said, holding out a hand to Squall. "Shall we also head back? We got a long day ahead of us." Squall accepted the hand and let Rinoa pull him up to his feet. They walked back to their dorms hand in hand.

Rinoa's right, they need all the sleep they can get.

It's going to be a _long_ day.

* * *

Probably not the greatest explanation for Hyne=Lorelei and so forth, but that's what I thought when I read about Hyne and his two legends.

There's a reason to why I mostly have Squall and Rinoa interact with Luke and Asch, but that's for later. =D Hope I didn't make Squall too OOC, but you know, after almost dying I feel that he would be more happy. And no one can resist the Luke-effect! Cause I didn't really like Luke at the begining cause he was a total spoiled brat, but then after Akzeriuth he just grew on me. And Asch and his hotness~ And mommy's boy. It was nice to play as Asch for the Mushroom sidequest again. Hehe.

Oh yeah, I realized I got their ages mixed up. Luke and Asch are eighteen, not seventeen, my bad. (Going to fix that now)

Also, I forgot to mention, when I described Shiva when Squall summoned her, did you guys think of Undine because of the clothes? I just want to know if my describing skills are phail or not.


	5. Chapter 5

Gevurah Chapter 5

* * *

When Squall said that they were heading to Esthar, Luke had thought trains or ferries would be the vehicles transporting them. No one said anything about the massive, sleek, red airship that would bring them over to the other continent. Jaw hanging, Luke took in the sight of the gigantic fifty-tour meter high airship. Compared to the Ragnarok, the Albiore looked like a toy airship; and are those _claws_ at the front? Luke envied the design on the Ragnarok; the Albiore only had the Flight Stone while the dragon-like airship had claws and cannons.

"What are you, a kid?" Asch said coming up behind Luke, sensing his other's thoughts. The other redhead gave a pointed look back at Asch for the rhetorical question. "Right, you _are_ one." Luke stuck his tongue out and continued to gawk at the airship.

"Have you already forgotten that the Tartarus was just as big?"

"Yeah, but the Tartarus couldn't _fly_."

"Hey you guys!" A cheerfully waving Selphie caught the two redheads' attention. "If you don't hurry it up we'll leave you behind!"

The two hurriedly entered the boarding ramp as it closed behind them. They followed Selphie as she gave the two a tour of the interior contents of the Ragnarok. Luke and Asch were impressed at how much technology advanced through the years as they passed through the hangar and the passenger room. With seven people including the pilot, the Albiore was a bit cramped yet the Ragnarok could lift cargo and transport much more people than the Albiore.

"And this is all yours?" Luke said in awe. It must've cost a fortune to buy the airship!

"Yup!" Selphie said, leading the pair to the elevator to head up to the cockpit. "Well, Garden uses Ragnarok for missions if there's need, but usually we just borrow it for vacations and stuff like that. But I guess the original owners of the Ragnarok are Squinoa since they found it first."

"Squinoa?"

"Would you please stop using that term?" An exasperated Squall said when the three reached the cockpit. Everyone else was already seated, Irvine in the co-pilot seat, Quistis at the comms station while Rinoa sat at the navigation systems. Zell stood next to Quistis. Squall rubbed the bridge of his nose while shaking his head, "How hard is it to just say my name and Rinoa's?"

"But it's just so cute!" Selphie squealed. Emerald eyes did puppy-eyes to the sorceress, clasping her hands to her chest in hope to sway her. "Right Rinnie?"

"Yes, yes."

"Do you guys have nicknames for each other?" Luke and Asch blinked at the question directed at them by the overall clad girl.

"Dreck."

"Bastard."

"Well…" Zell coughed to break the awkwardness. "Should we depart now?"

The others wordlessly agreed while the redheads laughed. Selphie took her place as the pilot and fiddled with some of the controls. Curious, Luke and Asch took a look at the many buttons in the cockpit behind Selphie. The brunette put on an earpiece and spoke, "Ragnarok to Balamb, ready for takeoff."

"_No need for formalities, Selphie."_

"Headmaster!" Selphie exclaimed the others whipped their head at the cry. Selphie pressed a button and an image of a man in his sixties with glasses appeared on the Ragnarok screen. Everyone save for Rinoa saluted to the headmaster.

"_I did say no need for formalities, at ease."_ The headmaster smiled kindly at everyone, with an almost fatherly look in his cerulean eyes. Everyone relaxed out of the salute.

"Headmaster Cid, if I may ask," Quistis said. "Why are you at the Bridge? Where are Nida and Xu?"

"_Come now Quistis. Can't a headmaster see off his best SeeDs?_" He then gave a hearty laugh at Quistis' face. "_I must confess I have another reason. I wanted to see what type of people who managed to get the normally anti-social's Squall's help."_

"Headmaster…" Was the annoyed reply.

The headmaster laughed. "_Now where are they?"_

"Uh…" Luke hesitantly said to introduce himself, bringing himself and Asch into the headmaster's view. Luke felt slightly nervous introducing himself, but the man kindly smiled at him making Luke lose some tension in his shoulders. "Hi?"

Asch sighed and took over for Luke. "I'm Asch and this is my brother Luke fon Fabre. We're both very thankful that you allowed your best SeeDs to help us return back home." Asch bowed slightly, and quickly gestured Luke to do the same. When Asch looked back up he saw Cid scratching the back of his head with a slightly embarrassed expression.

"_Kids nowadays are too formal. It's not problem at all, they're probably looking for a vacation anyways."_ He waved a hand nonchalantly while laughing in good spirits. Asch and Luke looked at each other in disbelief; this was considered as a vacation?

"_In any case, I have no doubts now. Squall was very brief in his report so it left me wondering what type of people you were."_ The two snuck a glance at the commander who just shrugged. "_I must've taken up too much of your time. Have a good time now."_

The Headmaster waved and the image disappeared.

"That was…interesting." Luke said.

"I've never met a more carefree man." Asch commented.

"He's not always like that," Quistis reassured.

"Let's depart." Squall said sighing. Selphie hit the engines and gently lifted the Ragnarok from the Garden landing site. "I hope you two are used to flying in the air."

"Yeah," Luke replied, "We've both flown in some airships before, no biggie."

Zell slightly smirked and innocently asked, "Have you ever flown Selphie-style?"

"Eh?"

"Booyaka!" That was Asch's and Luke's only warning before the Ragnarok speeded through the air at what seemed to be impossible speed for the two redheads. Asch managed to keep his footing but Luke fell on his bottom and turned a shade of green.

'_Th-this is insane! Even when the Albiore had the Refined Flight Stone it didn't go this fast!'_

'_I have doubts now. The girl is laughing at this speed while steering.'_

Luke stood rather shakily and leaned on Asch. "Is there any chance of this slowing down?" He looked around and saw that everyone else seemed fine. He gave a slight pout at Zell and Rinoa when he noticed they were snickering behind their hands at them. Quistis ducked her head to avoid having her amused smile being noticed, while Squall stood there impassive as always.

Irvine stood up from his seat and walked over to the duo. How the man had balance while on the ship left Luke confused. "No such luck. Selphie doesn't like putting the Ragnarok on auto-pilot."

"How long is the ride?"

"'Bout five hours or so."

"Damn."

"It's not that bad," Irvine consoled. He put an arm around Luke's shoulders, ignoring the glare Asch sent him when he shifted Luke's weight away from Asch and onto himself. "You can lean on me if you feel out of balance."

"Uh…Thanks." Luke said somewhat uncomfortably, and stiffened. He felt the arm going lower and lower before finally resting on his waist. Luke tried his best to resist the urge to chop said arm.

"So Luke, you seeing anyone?" Irvine said grinning.

Luke back astonished, "Are you _asking me out_?"

A wink. "Depends on how you take it."

"I didn't know you were a pedophile."

"Huh?"

Asch gave Irvine a smirk. "A pedophile is an adult that is sexually attracted to young children."

"I know that! But what does that have to do with…" Irvine trailed off and quickly whipped his head to look down at Luke, eyes wide at the meaning of Asch's words.

Amused emerald eyes stared back at the cowboy. "I look eighteen, but I'm actually eight years old."

"Gah!" Irvine moved his hand away from Luke's waist as if it was burnt; he pointed a shaking finger at the younger male. "You-! Ugh!" He quickly rushed over to Selphie seeking condolence, wailing that he broke his gentlemanly codes and hit on someone younger then he was and losing his touch and he hit on a _minor_!

And Selphie?

"That's what you get for hitting on everything!"

Laughter filled the cockpit.

* * *

So...after how long I finally get back to this somewhat. I actually had to read this through again and figure out my plot and references. Took me a while to realize Hyne=Lorelei and a bunch of other things.

I am very, very tempted to rewrite this, Asch isn't depicted as well as I want nor some things flow as well.

But this is just a short chapter that I had in my computer for a while un-edited, I wanted to post _something_ up. Once university calms down (got two midterms next week, eep!) I will try, I stress on the try, to write more.

Thank you for your patience!

Last thing: I'm going to change the /connection talk/ to italics to look like this '_talking'_


End file.
